The Superior Race
by o0whitelily0o
Summary: Is perfection unobtainable? The newest leader of the Irkens doesn't think so, but it's price may be too high for the race to pay. The greatest army of rebels the universe has ever seen is building, but will it be enough to overthrow the Irken government?
1. Chapter 1

Conventia was packed to the brim with Irkens. The Tallest had sent an invitation to every Irken alive through their PAKs, and eager to please their new leader, as many as possible had shown up. Almost all of the ones who didn't either had their PAKs disconnected from the system (which meant exile), were invaders on a mission, or had found it physically impossible to come. But despite this, there were thousands upon thousands who arrived.

The Tallest looked out at his audience as the platform lowered, and the cheers rang out across the planet. He smiled and waved, an act that, to him, no longer held any real feeling- it was simply expected of him, and why should he give the race any reason to worry?

But looking out at them, he saw the truth that he had known for far too long. Where once he would have seen thousands of magenta-eyed, uniformed Irkens (which some purple- and green- eyed ones mixed in), he was disturbed to see very few with the usual uniform. Some were just modified, so that you could at least tell they were Irken uniforms. A lot of them had been completely changed- the style, colors, everything. At least those still held in the basic Irken style- short and dress like, with long gloves and boots, and had very little skin showing. But there were some that caused him great worry- clothes like he had never seen before, and each one more disturbing than the last.

He suppressed a shudder as the platform settled and he moved towards the audience, all looking up at him expectantly, and he was horrified to see some blue eyes were looking up as well. That there were such Defectives as them who dared to display it to all? It sickened him. As the announcer introduced him, the Almighty Tallest Semurn, he grinned with a well-hidden animosity.

"Operation Impending Doom II has been progressing smoothly, and Invaders El and Sploodge have both conquered their respective planets." He announced, and on a video-board, images of the two successful invaders and before-and-after pictures of their planets were shown. "I'm sure that many of you are wondering what we will use these two planets for. But before I get to that, I want to talk to you about something else.

"My fellow Irkens, are we not the most powerful race in the universe?" He started, and the cheers of the audience answered his question.

He motioned for them to quiet down, and when they did he continued. "Yes, it would seem so, wouldn't it? We have no rival in military power, not since the Vortians were conquered, and there is no race that can possibly hope to match our discipline. Or at least, that is what I have thought for so long."

Staring up at him, he knew now that he had their rapt attention, and he continued.

"Every Irken knows that their first and only duty is to the Tallest, so do not feel guilty for allowing the leniency of the ex-Tallest, Red and Purple, to infect the system. Look around and see for yourselves, how many of you wear the uniforms that all truly loyal soldiers wear?" Many, if not all, in the audience looked around in shock- it was as if it had taken his mentioning it to make it true. But now that it had, he could see anger in the true loyalists' eyes, and fear in the rests'.

"Allow me to introduce my new head advisor, Irken Reinik." A trap door opened in the floor, and a smaller platform rose from it, revealing a red-eyed Irken wearing an oddly malicious-looking uniform. But what caught most eyes was the band around his arm. On it was a symbol of a double-triangle surrounded by a circle. "As many of you have noticed, he is wearing a band around his left arm. This is proof that he has passed his Trial, and is a non-Defective. All Irkens are now required to have one, which means undergoing your own Trial. If you pass, you will be allowed to live your lives as you have done before." A cold smile graced his advisor's lips as his Tallest gestured for him to speak.

"However, we can't have you calling the Almighty Tallest unfair or cruel- so if you fail, very few of you will actually be executed. Instead, you will be sent to special prisons for Defectives, which we will be building out of the planets that Invader El and Invader Sploodge have conquered." Advisor Reinik said, although he and his Tallest both knew the real reason for the prisons. The Control Brains could only handle deleting so many Irken PAKs before overheating. Tallest Semurn would be getting his top scientists to find a way to increase the number of de-activations the Brains could handle, but for now the Defectives should be counting themselves lucky.

"My fellow Irkens," Tallest Semurn continued, "Can you not see that it is only through these means, as extreme as they may seem to you now, that we can fix the mistakes that the previous Tallest have allowed to get so far? And when this problem is corrected, then- and only then- can we hold our heads high and call ourselves Irken soldiers!" The crowd was beginning to come out of the state of shock brought on by the announcement of the Trials, and his words were starting to excite them.

"We are **_Irkens_**, the superior race! Perfection is in our grasp, and _we shall seize it_!" The crowd forgot themselves, and began to cheer for their leader, forgetting about the Trials and the grim future that was to be brought about by their leader. Their leader with the silver tongue, and venom in his bite.

**A/N: Well, this is the prologue of my epic-sized fanfic. It'll take all of my creative juices to keep it going in my mind until I can get it written out, but it will be worth it, I hope. Please don't nag me about finishing my other fics, as this one has stolen my soul. I promise, I will finish them sooner or later.**


	2. Chapter 2

Min, an extremely short Irken scientist, was taking inventory on the latest shipment from the Vortian Prison. She had not gone to hear Tallest Semurn's speech the other day, and neither had Cobe. They had been supervising a shipment of highly unstable chemicals, and did not want to leave it in the hands of the underpaid delivery drones. It had been unusually late, because a few weeks ago, rebels had broken out several prisoners called the Resisty.

Since then, however, there had been very some very disquieting rumors. Trials had been increasing, and many of their fellow scientists had been arrested. Fortunately, nothing like that had happened to them, and why should it? Neither of them had done anything wrong, so an arrest would be completely unfounded- right?

Nonetheless, Min was getting increasingly nervous. Cobe had gone out to get snacks, and he should have been back by now.

"Well, it can't hurt to go make sure he's okay…" She muttered to herself as she walked out into the hall, being so distracted that she had forgotten to put down a vial of explosive chemicals she had been marking on her list.

Min's antennae perked up as she heard a sound coming from the direction of the snack bar. It was definitely Cobe's voice, but she couldn't make out the exact words. There was another voice…or was it two? Either way, all of her worries seemed justified, and she started to run in their direction.

"Look sir, we only need you to take off your goggles." Two large and heavily armored soldiers had backed a very nervous-looking Cobe into the wall. One looked somewhat sympathetic to him, the other was only annoyed. "If you don't, we'll take them off for you."

"But… I really have to get back…Min's waiting and-" But the annoyed soldier apparently couldn't be bothered waiting any longer, and tore off the green-tinted goggles. For a second, Cobe was too startled to do anything but blink his eyes.

His bright blue eyes.

The two soldiers turned to each other and nodded, the formerly sympathetic one pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Just as we thought. Irken Cobe, you are hereby under arrest and set to be tried as a Defective." Those words set off a thousand alarms in Min's mind, and without thinking twice she chucked the vial in her hand at the soldiers.

"Cobe, duck!" Instinctively, he lunged out of the way as the vial hit the floor- and exploded. When the smoke cleared, neither Min nor Cobe were anywhere to be found, and after an investigation of the premises, a Spittle Runner was discovered to be missing.

Elsewhere… 

"Lardy! Lyn! Message for you on the big screen!" Shloonktapooxis cried, floating through the ship's hallways. He didn't even know if this was the right hallway, or care for that matter. He'd find those two eventually, and it was fun to yell at the top of his lungs like this.

A door slid open, and Lard Nar's head poked out. "For the last time, Shloonk, shut the hell up! These walls are thin, we can hear you perfectly fine!"

"But it's a message from Shido! She says-" Immediately, Lyn pushed Lard Nar out of the way, practically growling.

"That Irken! What does she want this time?"

"She says it's about the next meeting time. You gotta come, or else she's gonna leave the message with Spleenk again." That was enough incentive for Lard Nar. He opened the door the rest of the way, and had to drag Lyn behind him.

"But Lard Nar, you know how I feel about her! Can't you handle this alone? I mean, it's only the meeting time, you can do this by yourself!"

"Lyn, we represent the Resisty jointly in the Great Rebellion, so you have to be present for all communications. Besides, what if she has some other message that she couldn't tell Shloonk about?"

"…Fine. But afterwards, I'm going to need a good shot of rum."

With a resigned sigh, Lard Nar pulled her into the communications room and faced the large screen in the center. On it was a green-eyed Irken female, who looked less then patient. "Shido, this is Captain Lard Nar and Lyn of the Resisty, reporting in."

"Greetings, Lard Nar. Lyn. I wanted to tell you the next meeting time and place. Everyone will be gathered at Qingska in exactly twenty-four universal hours." Since there were so many different time zones on all the different planets, the Great Rebellion had to develop it's own time system for it's members. "I will send you a file with its coordinates, so don't be late. Oh- and this time, Lyn, please don't show up drunk. Or with a hangover. Your attitude is bad enough when you're sober, it doesn't need any help from alcohol."

Noticing his fuming fiancée, Lard Nar cut the conversation short. "Yes, we'll be there. See you then, Shido." And with that, the transmission was ended.

"That little BI-"

"Lyn, Shido did have a point. You can't keep getting drunk before each meeting."

"How else am I going to be able to put up with that- that- _Irken_?!?"

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. Try faking a coma- it worked when Spleenk-"

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Look, all I'm saying is it is bad for the Resisty's reputation if you keep going to every single meeting stone-cold drunk, or half-dead from a hangover."

"…Fine, I guess I see what you mean. Well, if it's for the Resisty, I'll go along with it. But afterwards I'm going to empty out our rum supply, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Unable to help himself, Lard Nar smiled and kissed her gently. "I wouldn't dare. Come on, let's go make sure that the coordinates file came through all right."

Smirking slightly, Lyn followed him back out into the main room. "You're right, knowing Shloonktapooxis, he's probably making doily hats out of the print-outs." But when they got there, everyone was in their battle stations. Shloonktapooxis floated towards the pair, babbling incoherently and at a very rapid pace. To fix this, Lyn slapped him.

"Lardy, Lyn, an Irken Spittle Runner has been spotted approaching our ship!"

Goggled eyes widening in shock, Lard Nar began getting into his 'battle mind'. "What? How many?"

"Just one." This caused him to do a double take.

"One? You don't mean one dozen, or one hundred?"

"No, just one."

Lyn offered her advice. "It's probably a scouting ship. Try scanning for a larger group nearby."

"We did that. Nothing."

Lard Nar moved towards his Captain's Chair. "Even if it's just a travelling Irken, they would undoubtedly report seeing our ship to their leaders when they arrived at their destination." Simply destroying the ship and its riders would be the easiest course of action, but somehow, killing a random passerby, just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, seemed too cruel. "Alright, let's send out a scout ship to bring them in. They'll be our prisoners until we can figure out what to do with them."

Shloonktapooxis nodded (which looked more like he was shaking up and down), and began to get together the scout ship. Lyn looked at Lard Nar in a very confused manner. "What exactly do you have planned for whoever's inside that ship?"

"I'm not sure. They might be useful for information."

"Heh, most Irkens wouldn't reveal anything that might harm the Empire. It's the way they are programmed." She scoffed, and turned away. Lard Nar understood Lyn's disgust, but he still couldn't bring himself to order the execution of the Irkens on that ship.

For better or worse, his decision was made. Time to see how it would unfold.

**A/N: Lyn is not my character. She belongs to the fabulous Tora Yakari. Some more of Tora's OCs will be making an appearance later, if all goes as planned. If you want to read about Lyn's origins, go read Tora's fanfic- Resisting Authority. Also, Min and Cobe belong to me. Their pictures and bios are up on my DeviantArt account, InvaderLily. Well, I hope you like this chapter. I feel somewhat emotionally drained after all that…**


	3. Chapter 3

Today was just really not Cobe's day. First, they had been all out of Min's favorite snack food. Then, he had been accused of being a Defective by two veeery strong-looking soldiers, who to prove this, stole his goggles. If it hadn't been for Min and the power of explosives, he would be halfway to Judgmentia by now. Fortunately for the both of them, someone had left their Spittle Runner unlocked, so they had managed to get away. But they had no where to go! Very few planets were not under the rule of the Irkens, and if they landed on even one of them, they'd find themselves surrounded before they could say, 'Any parking?'

And now they had run into the largest Vortian ship that either one of them had ever seen. It was, quite possibly, as big as the Massive! Not to mention the little fact that a scout ship was headed their way. The way Cobe saw it, one of two things could be happening. Either, a) it was an Irken-run ship and they were sending a ship out to arrest them, or b) it was an Irken-run ship that didn't know they were running from the government, and they were going to help them. But the latter was not very likely at all, since everything was so streamlined in the government nowadays, very few convicts ever escaped.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Cobe realized that there was only one who immediately came to mind- Lyn, the Irken who tried to assassinate the former Tallest, Red and Purple. And she had escaped by getting on board with a rebel group…who traveled in a Vortian ship.

"Cobe, do you think that this might be the Resisty's ship?" Min asked, voicing his thoughts, not without a trace of awe.

"I-I think it is." He stammered, as the scout ship sent a message via video transmission.

Silhouettes and glowing eyes popped up on the screen. _'Attention Irkens- you are hereby under arrest by the Resisty.' _Snickers in the background. _'Shut it, Spleenk, you're the one who came up with it! Follow us into the main ship. If you do not comply, we will open fire.'_

"No, no, we comply! We comply!" Cobe said hurriedly. Min nodded. They'd have no hope at all if Irkens took them in, but a rebel group? It would give them a chance- no matter how slim. An entrance opened up on the side of the main ship, and Cobe steered the Spittle Runner into it, followed closely by the Resisty's scout ship.

The inside was large, but unimpressive. Rows of similar scouting ships were lined up, along with some bigger, more heavily armed ships. All of them, no matter what their purpose, were made in near-identical styles. Just looking at them reminded Cobe of being in a manufacturing plant (it was mandatory for all would-be scientists to take at least a year of ship manufacturing, in case they were called upon to create new weaponry systems, or generate fuel sources).

"You two, exit your ship and follow us." A voice shook him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a Cyrabetic- a race that was implanted with self-growing armor from the day they are born. Irkens scientists had been trying to perfect self-growing armor for their own race for centuries, but the secret had always eluded them. The closest they could get to was 'automatic' armor, for which activation depended upon blood pressure and heart rate.

Cobe picked up Min (this had become a conditioned reflex by now) and stepped out of the ship tentatively. So far, nothing had gone wrong, but this being 'one of those days', he could bet that something would. The Cyrabetic just nodded towards a door on the far end and started walking. Taking the hint, Cobe followed.

The door opened. A green blur knocked the wind out of him, and he suddenly found himself on the floor, being pushed down by a small-but-forceful boot. A strangely accented (but distinctly female) voice growled in his…er, antennae.

"Well, Irken scum, who sent you?" But another voice- male, in a clear Vortian accent, responded before Cobe got a chance.

"Lyn! What are you doing?" The weight was lifted and Cobe managed to sit up and see his assailant. A green eyed-Irken female in a black overcoat…it _was_ that Lyn! And standing beside her was a male Vortian with green-tinted goggles (_'I wonder if he has any spares…'_ Cobe caught himself thinking.)

"Interrogating the prisoner." She said simply.

The Vortian sighed and shook his head. "You can't just attack them, even if they are Irken. For all we know, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But he's an Irken! A _uniformed _Irken!"

"That doesn't make it right."

By this time, Min- who had been dropped and dazed when Cobe had been assaulted- was walking over to the scene of the debate. "Are you alright Cobe? You're not bleeding or anything, are you?"

"I'm fine, it'll just a bruise." He smiled, trying to reassure her.

The Vortian looked over at Min, with a very confused expression. "Why do you have a smeet with you?" The Irken was giving Cobe a disgusted look, and he could probably tell what she was thinking.

Min bristled, and said indignantly, "I am _not_ a smeet! I'm hardly younger than him!" She pointed to Cobe. Despite the situation, he found himself amused. He had forgotten how short Min really was; having grown used to it.

"Oh-um-Sorry about that, then." The Vortian cleared his throat, and took on a much more authoritative tone. "I am Captain Lard Nar of the Resisty. You two are hereby prisoners aboard this ship. Shloonktapooxis!" A Moxian, one of the cone head race, floated in from whatever room the doorway lead to. "Take these two to the holding chamber."

"Sorry Lardy, but we don't have one."

A beat passed.

"What?"

"Yeah. We never had any prisoners before, so it was always at the bottom of the to-do list."

"You mean we have no where to put these two?"

"Well, there's Ixane's old room- it's pretty dull looking since we took all her stuff out though."

"I don't _care _what it looks like!"

"But-" It appeared that the two were settling into an old routine, because the Cyrabetic was starting to fall asleep, and Lyn was leaning against the wall and yawning.

"Um, I'm sure it's fine. We don't mind." Cobe spoke up, and the arguing two looked surprised, as if reminded of their presence.

"Well- alright then. Shloonktapooxis- take them to the holding chamber that was formerly Ixane's room." Lard Nar said, trying to regain his composure. He certainly didn't expect two Irkens to be taking imprisonment so… acceptingly. Something was wrong. The taller male picked up the female and followed as the cone led the way (babbling at a rapid pace as he did so), the Cyrabetic awakening from his nap and leaving as well. When they were all a safe distance away, he turned to Lyn, only to be beat to the point.

"There's something not right about those two. Did you see the male's eyes?"

This took Lard Nar be surprise. "No- why, was something wrong with them?"

"They were blue."

"Blue? I didn't notice. Is there something wrong with blue eyes?"

"It is in the Irken Society. Blue eyes are seen as a defect."

He looked puzzled. "Any reason?"

"They're incredibly rare, and blue has always been looked down upon by Irkens. It's a very peaceful color, after all."

Nodding, Lard Nar looked down the hall. "Do you think that he might be a Defective?"

She thought for a moment. "At any rate, the government probably does. That doesn't explain the female though. Irkens don't make, or keep, friendships, but those two are practically glued at the hip."

"In any case, they require questioning. We'll discuss them with Shido and the other Rebel Leaders at the next meeting. Maybe Ornen will be able to recruit them."

Lyn looked doubtful, but nodded. "It's worth a try, anyway." A loud crash was heard down the hall. "Oh great, that sounds like Spleenk's gone into one of his panic fits again."

"We should go see what it is." He grinned. "The two Irkens probably scared him."

He was partially right- it was Irkens who scared him. But it wasn't the prisoners.

A fleet of Ring Cutters and Rippers, led by a Viral Tank, were headed towards the ship. And they were after a certain blue-eyed Defective and his accomplice.

**A/N: My friend Taylor will be recognizing a certain character of her's in the next chapter. I don't like this chapter as much as the last one, but authors are usually the worst judges of their work. That's why reviews love, you guys! On another note- for those of you who have seen my 'Rebel Leaders' piece on DA (or the colored version by Tora-Yakari)- those characters will be showing up in either the next chapter, or the one after it. And more Semurn and Reinik soon, for those who miss them . I promise!**


	4. Chapter 4

Captain Tray, leader of Fleet 142 and top graduate from her class, was gearing up for her mission. More specifically, the locating and arrest of two Defectives that escaped capture. One was a tall, blue-eyed scientist, the other a much shorter purple-eyed female. Force should be used if necessary, they were- after all- just Defectives. Her squadron had located a Spittle Runner on the radar, and very close to it was the Vortian ship that had been identified as belonging to the Resisty.

When she had communicated with their leader, Lard Nar the Vortian, a voice off-screen had shouted that they'd never give into the demands of the 'Soulless scum'. Lard Nar had agreed angrily. Having confirmed that the Defectives were, in fact, on board, Tray decided it was time to fulfill her duties as a loyal Irken. In other words- attack.

Of course, even her Viral Tank had no chance of competing with the sheer might of that Vortian ship, but all she needed was to distract them long enough for her to get on board and capture the two Defectives. It shouldn't take too long- she did graduate in the top ten of her class on Devastis.

"Captain, permission to accompany you?" Lieutenant Pastule- a younger, dark-green eyed Irken who showed a lot of promise- asked with a salute as she headed towards one of the escape pods.

"Permission denied, Lieutenant." At his disappointed expression, she flashed him a reassuring smile. "As second-in-command, I need you to stay here and keep things under control while I'm gone." He nodded at that, but there was reluctance in it.

As she boarded the pod, she finished, "If I'm not back in two hours, retreat with as many as you can. We won't be able to hold them off for much longer than that." And before Pastule could argue, she launched the pod and started steering it towards the massive ship.

…

"I didn't think it was possible, but this place is even bigger on the inside than it look from the outside…" Tray muttered as she slunk through the halls. So far she hadn't found any sign of life- either this area was under maintenance, or the crew wasn't anywhere near as big as the rumors.

Shadows flickered on the wall of a corridor, and before she had time to realize what she was doing, she found herself clinging to the ceiling with her PAK's spider-legs.

A Cyrabetic was running down the hall (could it really be called running if the thing didn't have any legs? Well, it was _moving_ fast at any rate), and from what little facial expression it had, it seemed worried. Trying not to make the gears in her spider-legs make any noise, she followed from the ceiling.

She soon became quite relieved that she did. He was going down halls and passages that she would never have thought of. The areas just kept getting emptier and more desolate. They reminded Tray of the underground classrooms back on Irk. Shuddering at the memory, she nearly lost sight of her 'guide'. Fortunately, it was slowing down, or else she really would have lost sight of it!

It stopped at a door near the end of the hall, and unlocked it with a quickly typed numerical code. When it opened, all she saw were a pair of blue, insectoid eyes before she pushed off the ceiling towards the Cyrabetic in some sort of improved kick/tackle hybrid.

The sudden movement caught his eye, so he wasn't caught completely off-guard, as she would have liked. The thick armor he wore also cushioned the blow, and as a result he was able to fight back when he got his second wind.

Eyeing him, she calculated was he strengths and weaknesses should be, based on his species, size, and how well he recovered from the initial attack. His armor was strong enough to withstand her most powerful attacks, not to mention a good deal of her weapons, but if she could keep him confused, then it wouldn't matter. Dizziness could bring even the most powerful creature to it's knees- literally- and it would give her enough time to capture the two and run.

A flurry of fast punches, and staying light on her feet, proved to be enough to defeat him. In fact, it was even better than she had hoped. He never did regain his proper footing after her first attack, and at one point he tried to charge her, only to run headlong into a wall. Tray shook her head in disappointment. If this was the best the Resisty had to offer, then the Irken Army should have no trouble in defeating them.

During the confusion, though, the Defectives had fled the scene. Not that she could blame them- out of all the Defected she had seen, very few were actually stupid. But she could hear the footsteps down the hall, and knew how easy it would be to track them.

Grinning, she followed after them. Even if they were only acting out of instinct, one should never underestimate an Irken soldier.

…

She soon discovered, however, that they hadn't. They had split up, and only one pair of footsteps was still audible. Lucky her, they were coming from the direction that she had landed her escape pod. The other was probably too far away for her to catch, bring back to the pod, and get back to the Viral Tank within the two hour time limit- over half of which was already up.

Well, a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush (whatever a 'bird' was), so she decided to at least capture one of them.

It was easy to catch up with her prey- it must be the short one, she decided. As she closed in, she heard a squeal and a thud. The Defect had fallen! Chuckling, she drew her gun and bridged the gap.

"Hello there, Defect." Tray grinned, before she got a good look at what she was found and completely froze.

Smeet-like in size, dark purple eyes, clearly female… 

She blinked once, but she couldn't snap out of her sudden paralysis.

_A fire… no, an explosion. Underground, no where to run. Screams everywhere, of fear, pain, and a sort of manic exhilaration. _

A purple-eyed smeet, darker than hers would ever be, screamed her name twice… 

_The smell of burning flesh stuck to her, even when she was hauled out into the fresh air._

Tray could do nothing, could not move. Not while that small Irken stared at her with those eyes so full of fear and panic.

The gun slid from her limp fingers, the sound it made as it hit the floor seeming to snap her out of whatever nightmare she had fallen into. Not that it mattered- the female had already run away, and this time Tray had no interest in going after her.

Somewhere inside of her, her self-preservation kicked in and she started moving towards her pod. The time limit she had given the Lieutenant was nearly up- she did not want to die or be captured here. She wanted to be back on the Viral Tank, with Lt. Pastule and her crew- with the present, not the past. Running away it might be, but there are some memories better left buried.

Not for the first time, she was relieved that she did not need to sleep. Those memories would have been in her dreams, now that they were unearthed and discovered to still be breathing.

…

"My Tallest, a report has just been received from Captain Tray, of Fleet 142. It seems that they engaged in battle with the Resisty when they found out they were harboring Defectives Cobe and Min. They were forced to retreat, without capturing the two fugitives." Advisor Reinik read off to his leader, who looked a little puzzled as he finished it.

"Who did you say was in charge of that fleet?"

"Captain Tray, my Tallest."

"I seem to remember her back from my academy days… she'd never do something so rash as to fight a ship as large as the one owned by the Resisty with only her fleet. Are you sure that it was her?"

"That's the report. Also, another containment facility has been broken into- the one in the east sector. A few Defectives were able to escape."

The Tallest didn't look very interested, but asked, "Who were they?"

"Numbers 19123, 09851, 57986, and several others who hadn't been registered before being broken out."

Nodding slightly, Semurn said, "This is the third time this week. What do you propose we do?"

"They are Defectives, so it doesn't really matter what happens to them. No matter how many those rebellions get together, they will be unable to do a thing to our perfect soldiers." Reinik said, with complete conviction and without hesitation.

Tallest Semurn smiled and nodded. "That's exactly what I thought you'd say."

Looking rather pleased with himself, Reinik bowed to his leader. "Well, if you have nothing else for me, my Tallest, I will show myself out." He said, as he started turning to leave.

For a split second, Semurn nearly did stop him. He almost called him back, told him that he wanted him to stay. The night would be long, and they could spend it together… one way or another. He knew that Reinik could never refuse him anything, and deep inside, he knew that they both wanted it.

But he didn't. Not without a vague air of reluctance, Reinik walked out of the room. As soon as he had, Semurn felt revolted with himself. What in the name of Irk had he been thinking? Reinik was only his advisor. Only a Defective would ever think things like that, and all Defectives had to be killed. He could never be one… those thoughts had meant nothing. A moment's madness brought on by stress. Yes, that was it. Stress. Perhaps he _should _sleep. It was a luxury he could now afford, being the Tallest, and he heard that it could do wonders for your state of mind.

Yes. He would sleep. Sleep and forget all about what had just happened.

But he couldn't, for in his dreams he relived that moment- only before Reinik left, he stopped him. What they did next, he could never remember, but he remembered thinking that it was terrible. Nothing any Defective ever did, or ever would, could possibly be that horrible. The shame, the longing, the constant sense of being left unfulfilled stayed with him all night, and was even worse when he awoke the next morning.

The next night, however, he slept again- hoping to see the ending.

_A/N: Phew- summer break! This means more updates! I hope to finish this story by the end of the summer (hopefully before, so I can work on my even more badly neglected pieces). Tray belongs to SailorMint (from DeviantArt)- I apologize for all the changes and liberties I took with your character. Don't hurt me!_

_I've been getting some reviews asking me when the characters from the actual show will appear. To be honest, they won't. This is to keep things easier with the OCs, since so many have relationships with those characters. For example, Min was originally my version of the daughter of Zim and Tak, but so is Angel (TripleS's OC, who will show up later), and they have no idea who the other is. Likewise, Pleecy (Pinky Lillix's OC, a.k.a. No. 09851) is best friends with Tak, but Angel & Min have never met her. To make things simple, I will just write like Zim, Tak, Dib, & all the others never existed. The only exception is the Resisty, some of the original invaders, and maybe the former Tallest Red & Purple (haven't decided if I want to write them in or not. They may get a cameo)._

_Next chapter- the other Rebel Leaders, more on the prison break, and maybe a sort of 'case file' type thing where I do a brief summary on what's going on with some of the OCs people have been nice enough to let me use._


End file.
